Miguel Milà

MIGUEL MILÀ (Barcelona, 1931) for SANTA&COLE.
Floor lamp "TMM". Original design from 1960.
Edited in 1988.
Wooden structure.
Signed on the lampshade.
Exhibits wear consistent with age and use.
Measurements: 167 x 37 x 37cm.

The TMC (Tramo Móvil Cromada) is undoubtedly the most iconic design of the fruitful career of Miguel Milá. Its history began in 1956 with the design of a variable-height lamp for the interior design project of his aunt Nuria Sagnier's studio, and it has undergone numerous revisions and modifications over more than fifty years. The first definitive design to be marketed was in 1960, produced by the publishing company Tramo (Trabajos molestos), a company founded by Milá himself. The TMC is an ingenious floor lamp design that allows the height of the light to be chosen by means of a handle with seven anchor points, which acts both as a support for the circular white methacrylate shade and as a regulation system through the chromed shaft, the latter attached to a second structural half with four black-painted iron blades that form the base. An exercise in intelligent and balanced design that gives the TMC simplicity and functional efficiency.

Miguel Milá began his studies at the School of Architecture, although he soon abandoned them to work in the office of Federico Correa and Alfonso Milà. In 1958 he set up his own business as an industrial and interior designer. In the early sixties he witnessed the birth of Spanish industrial design, and throughout his long career he has been awarded the ADI FAD Delta de Oro prize six times, the first time in 1961, for the "TMC" lamp. He was also awarded the National Design Award in 1987, the Sant Jordi Cross in 1993, and in 2010 the CoNCA National Culture Award.